A broker can now approach RERA authority if his brokerage is due.

By Abhay Shah, Realty Quarter

Brokerage issues can now be covered in the context of a recent change in the regulations that were given by the housing department on June 6 by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA).

Marketing and brokerage following the sale of flats shall not be covered by the price of developing or constructing a project, the recent amendment says. Such expense, however, should not be covered by the amount to be deposited on the specified separate account, meaning that a broker can contact the authority if his brokerage is due.

Each promoter has to keep a separate account to deposit cash to be used in project development. The cash in this account is only to be used for building and project development purposes. This means that money cannot be diverted for any other things like marketing, real estate observers clarified.

The Notification further reads, “If the transaction between the promoter and the allottee is being made possible by a Registered Estate Agent, any amount (including taxes) agreed to as a remuneration / fees / commission / brokerage charge for that registered real estate agent shall be paid, if applicable, by the promoter / allottee / both, in the case of the transaction under this Agreement, in accordance with the agreed terms of payment.”

The choice to remove advertising and brokerage costs from development costs while developers are apprehensive is a nice step from a consumer point of perspective, but also implies it can have an effect on the rates for the end-users.

Real estate industry says that a project consists of the cost of advertising, marketing, and brokerages and this should ideally be a part of the project cost.

One of the Real estate agents said, “We are confident that we will lastly be paid our dues by RERA covering brokerage. We had also suggested the standardization of Brokerage charges, which still has to be authorized”.